His Only Regret
by blackeyedkitsune
Summary: Link visits one of the sages, and blames himself for her condition. Link/Medli, a Wind Waker fic. May become more than a one-shot. T for Link being his odd self.
1. Chapter 1

1

His Only Regret

"I brought you a present, Medli. I really hope you like it."

Link stepped gingerly into the eerie chamber. It was all as he had left it - dusty stone, red thorns along the walls, skulls and rays of light scattered across the floor. Silent, except for the sweet melody coming from Medli's harp.

Link's mouth tightened as he stepped up to her. The bird girl's expression did not change. As usual, she did not acknowledge him. "Medli, look. I brought you some Golden Feathers." Tearing his eyes from her, he dug into his pack for a moment, pulling out a handful of brightly sparking feathers. "I have so many... I don't particularly want to sell them... Can't you take them off my hands for me?"

Medli opened her eyes, seeming to fix them on the feathers, and Link's heart nearly stopped. 'Please,' He mentally begged. 'See me. Be alive again.'

His pleas did nothing. Medli closed her eyes again, and started the song over. Link felt like screaming in frustration. For months, she had not moved. She had not eaten, drank, spoke, or laughed. If he had known what being a sage would do to her and Makar, he never would have brought them here, damn the consequences. Makar was in the same state, of course, but he was a forest spirit... Did they even have to eat? Maybe that was why Link worried more about Medli than he did about the small leaf child.

Link growled and pulled all of the Golden Feathers he had out of his pack. "Here. Have them. If they... if you like them, you can have them all." Ninety nine feathers, all glimmering dimly in the dank chamber. He dumped them all at her feet, covering her ankles up to her dress. "Take them! They're yours!" He whined with distress as he was yet again ignored. "Medli! Take them! I collected every single one - all of them for you!" Medli did not make a single sound.

With a groan of frustration, the boy swathed in green sat heavily by the comatose girl's side. "I'm sorry, Medli." He could feel the angry tears coming again, and he did nothing to stop it. Well aware she would not stop him, Link buried his face in Medli's side, embracing her as tightly as he could. He had done it several times before, and he knew it would not wake her. "I'm sorry. So so sorry." All he could do was apologize. Nothing worked. He had yelled at her, brought her gifts, even attacked her. He was unable to even move her from her place. She was locked in eternal stasis, and it was all his fault.

After a while, he ran out of tears, and slowly released her. With a haggard sigh, the blond stumbled to his feet so he could look her in the face. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was calm as her delicate white fingers played along her harp's strings. He nuzzled her slowly, disturbing her bangs with his own. "You... aren't going to wake up, are you?" His chest almost throbbed with pain, but he just couldn't cry anymore.

He wished he didn't feel so guilty... He knew it was his fault, but... If Komali hadn't asked him to give Medli a message, he never would have realized. Would he ever have come back here if the bird prince hadn't asked him to complete such a task? It should have been so simple! Go to Jalhalla's room and give Medli the message, get a response, then go back to Komali. Maybe give her some of those Golden Feathers Rito girls are supposed to like so much... When he arrived, he found to his mounting horror that she was as good as dead. He worked himself into a panic trying to get some sort of response, but to no avail. Nearly going out of his mind with fear, he got back to the King of Red Lions and warped to Windfall, setting his course for Gale Isle. When he arrived to try and speak with the little forest spirit, he found that Makar was in the exact same state. He had tried everything he could think of to wake the leaf child, but he got no reaction at all.

So now, every week or so, he went to visit one of the cursed sages. Medli more than Makar, but neither seemed to care. He also had taken to avoiding Dragon Roost Island. The last thing he needed was to run into the Prince and blurt out what had happened to the Rito girl.

Wincing, Link finally straightened and put a little space between Medli and himself. "Medli, I need to go. We're going to go face Ganon... That is, myself and the King of... I mean, my boat and I... Listen, just forget it." At that moment, the Rito looked up from her playing. Link knew she was still comatose; her gaze was directed at his collarbone. "I don't think I'll come out alive. I mean, this is Ganon we're talking about. Bad of the bad, you know. But I am going to kill him. I swear your sacrifice will not be in vain." He took her face in his hands and touched their heads together again. "I swear it! He will not win. I won't let him! After that... Well, I don't know what will happen. Maybe... I don't know, we could be... together, or something." Gently, he pressed a sweet kiss to the unresponsive girl's mouth. It was the only thing he hadn't tried with Makar. It didn't really matter, though, because that didn't have any affect on her either. "I like you, okay? Do you hear me, Medli? I like you. I'm going to wake you up someday, even if it means giving you up to the Prince." He gave her one last, half-hearted smile. "I'll save Tetra, and everything will be okay, all right. Wait for me. One way or another, dead or alive, I will be back. Count on it!"

Before he could change his mind, he stepped into the circle of light. Moments later, it dropped him onto the beach of Headstone Island. "Link?" He looked up, and found the King of Red Lions staring intently at him. "What ails you, my child? Does Medli's and Makar's condition still disturb you?"

"It doesn't matter." Inwardly he winced; he sounded dead even to his own ears. "We'll save Tetra, and everything will be okay."

"Her name is Zelda," Corrected the boat almost absently.

"..Yeah. We'll save her." With a grim set to his mouth, the boy holding the Triforce of Courage pulled out his Wind Waker, and played the Ballad of Gales, warping as close as he could to the Forbidden Fortress and the dark portal it held.

AN - Okay. All right for my first fanfic in about 4 years? ^ ^; This was written in about half an hour, so please tell me what you think. I have a sequel planned, and I will post it if I get one review. Is that too much to ask for? I've forgotten. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought of it.


	2. Chapter 2

1

A/N; Thank you all so much! Your reviews were all wonderful, and it made me actually want to write... immediately! That doesn't happen to me too often... ^ ^;; I will do my best to satisfy your desires for this story. It was originally going to only have two chapters, but since I have Phantom Hourglass, maybe I can extend it a bit.... What do you think? Anyway, thank you for all your support!

WARNING: Contains spoilers for the ending

His Only Regret; Chapter Two

The back of Link's head struck the stone floor, and spots danced before the boy's eyes. "Ah...." With a wince, he rolled to the side, just evading one of Ganon's blades. Pulling himself to his feet, he held up his Mirror Shield and glared over the top of it, also trying to keep an eye on Tetra(Zelda?), who was scurrying about in the background.

"Now would be a good time!" Link shrieked across the room, and Zelda(Tetra?) winced at the shrill quality to his voice. She knew he was having trouble, but what could she do? Shooting arrows did no good if he didn't have the strength to wield the Master Sword. His defense was decent, but his energy was draining fast. Every time one of Ganon's swords hit, he moved a little more sluggishly. If they didn't finish this quickly, they would both die.

Link yelped as one of Ganon's brands came dangerously close to his toes, and he fell back on his behind. The Gerudo King's eyes glinted red in the dim light, and the hero gave a muffled cry as the dark sorcerer's weapon clanged against his shield. At this rate, his shield would end up shattering...

The shield he received with Medli at his side.

With a sudden surge of spirit, the hero of winds performed a roll and managed to slice into Ganon's backside, eyes alight and teeth gritted. A moment later, he felt the evil king's blade bite into his shoulder, but it didn't seem to matter. "I'll kill you! I told her... I won't break my promise!" Link snarled and swung the sacred blade, blood seeping through the robes at Ganon's abdomen.

"Link, wait! Watch--" At Tetra's cry, he spun to face her... only to get a blade in the back. He could feel it sliding between his ribs, and a sudden cold hit him all at once. He felt the freezing sword tip slip free of his body, and everything he held dear flickered before his eyes, all at once.

Wait... I can't die, Link told himself. Tetra... She needs me. My baby sister, Aryll... Who will take care of her?.. Medli... sweet, gorgeous Medli.... I promised... I promised her...

Everything was fading into shades of grey. He could feel himself falling forward, and his arms felt like lead... He landed hard, and he could feel the dull pain starting in his cheek. Am I dying? He wondered. Then... Don't be silly, Link. You don't have time to die.

Suddenly, his vision began to clear. For a second he thought it was simply the force of his will pushing back his demise, until he saw the flickering of a fairy's wings in front of his face. Of course... his fourth bottle had held a fairy. How could he have forgotten?With a grunt, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, glancing up just in time to see Ganon backhand the pirate princess. "T-Tetra!"

Well, damn. He loved making it more difficult, didn't he? Pushing himself upright with a growl, Link ran to meet the Gerudo King, snarling and swinging....For a while, everything was a bit of a blur. He had mostly given up on blocking, concentrating only on swing, swing, parry, thrust. The gerudo's demented eyes flashed before his own, and it almost felt as though they were dancing. The sound of the water coming down on all sides was almost soothing, and he reflected that he wouldn't mind dying here as long as he could take Ganon with him.

That was why he was here.

After a little while, out of the corner of his eye Link noticed Tetra stumbling to her feet. Ducking out of the way of Ganon's slashing blade, he ran to her side. "Tetra? Are you okay?"

The princess shook her head hard and wobbled a bit. "Okay, we need a new game plan. We have to surprise him..."

"You just don't want to get knocked out again."

She shot him an irritated glare. "Look, he's going to be watching me more closely for those arrows now. So, I'll aim at your shield... Do you get it?" Her smirk got a fierce quality to it.

"I get it, but I don't like it." Link took a deep breath, turning to face the dark sorcerer. To his ire, the pompous king looked as though he had been waiting on them, like whatever plan they could put together wouldn't be able to stop him. "We're going to win this, Tetra."

She stepped forward to stand by his side. "Of course we are."

"One more thing." As they gazed at him, the Gerudo king started towards them. "I don't care if you are the princess of Hyrule; you hit me with one of my own arrows and I will smack you when all this is over." The pirate princess laughed aloud, and moved away.

It was time for them to win.

Ganon made the first move, jumping high in the air to bring his blade down on Link. He tried to parry, but the dark king seemed to block him at every turn, now. Tetra was right. He heard the pirate give a little cry as she aimed, and at the last second he remembered to raise his shield. He grunted as it hit, but as planned, the light arrow struck the dark king and paralyzed him.

"Now..." With a triumphant cry, the make-shift hero ran forward, and with a final slash rolled, jumped, and embedded his sword in the evil king's forehead. For a moment, he was staring into the sorcerer's eyes... he could see all of the rage and pain inside of him. No wonder he wanted to kill us, thought Link dully. How long has he been doing this? How many times has he failed?

Link released the sword and jumped down, nearly slumping to the floor after he landed. He could distantly hear someone speaking, and Tetra holding him up, but it all seemed so far away. His body felt heavy, as though he had stone in his veins instead of blood. When he came back to himself and looked up, to his shock he found that Ganon had turned to stone. So all he had done... he had simply managed to seal him away? That was all?

Link focused on what the King of Red Lions was saying. He was sorry, okay, but it really didn't do him or Tetra any good. Their world was still one of ocean and wind... There was nothing to be done about it.

Now the king wanted them to find a new land.... A land where Tetra could be queen. As it was, the king could not accompany them....

The rest of the water flooded the chamber, and Link was hit with fear for a moment. What if the pressure of the water crushed them? The magic of Hyrule was falling apart... But he then realized his skin was still dry. He looked around in shock and noticed the bubble around his body. Enough air to let him float and breathe... as he began to rise, he noticed the King of Red Lions staring up at him almost wistfully. Of course... he wasn't coming with them... Link reached out and stretched his fingers as close as they would get to the king. The King returned the gesture, and Link felt a lump rising in his throat. After all they had been through together... this was the end?

He could feel the buoyancy of the bubble surrounding him dragging him upward slowly, and he waved one last time as the king lowered his head.

Goodbye... I'll miss you.

A/N; I am utterly ashamed of myself. I can't believe this took that long. I'm sorry, everyone! My only excuse is that I personify Sloth. O . O Anyway... I tried to put lots of action into this chapter, and used what I remembered in my first WW boss fight with Ganon. Hope everyone likes it


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